Business Corner

STRATEGIES & ANALYSIS

BY PHIL PHILLIPS
CONTRIBUTING EDITOR
PHILLIPS@CHEMARKCONSULTING.NET

High heat resistant coating systems

ertain organic binders, notably pheno- At the top end of the performance spectrum,

C lics and epoxies, are tolerant of rela-

tively high temperatures without mod-
ification, but coatings designed to provide pro-
tection against high service temperatures
generally incorporate silicon in some form or
A look at the another. Since the silicon bond requires much
global market higher energy for its disruption than the cor-
responding carbon bonds in analogous mole-
for high heat cules, it is much more resistant to thermal
degradation.
resistant
Silicone is so effective in this respect that
coating some degree of thermal resistance can be
achieved simply by cold blending ten percent
systems. or more of a silicone resin with a conventional
The first of binder. The temperatures that such a coating
will resist are limited to approximately 220C.
a two-part Copolymerization, even with modest levels of
series. silicone resins, is more efficient, and can be
achieved with, for example, alkyds, phenolics,
epoxies, acrylics and saturated polyesters.
Silicone may also be utilized in the form of
inorganic silicate coatings, which form a
glassy layer on curing, and will react with
both masonry and steel substrates to form a
tight bond.
silicone resins which will withstand tempera-
tures above 800C have been commercially
available for more than 50 years. Systems
which will withstand more than 1,000C have
been developed, originally for space vehicles,
but now with applications in the chemicals
industry. However, these pure silicone resins
are expensive and their curing via condensa-
tion of the silanol groups requires high tem-
peratures. Thus alkyl silicones or the copoly-
mers discussed above are more widely used
and are capable of meeting the majority of
domestic and industrial requirements.
A means to avoid the time and expense of
high-temperature stoving is to formulate
burn-off coatings. These incorporate a binder
system which cures at low or ambient temper-
atures, bonding the coating to the substrate.
The organic binder decomposes when parts
are exposed to service temperatures high
enough to cure the silicone binder. The system
is not ideal, in that its effectiveness will
depend upon the conditions under which this
secondary curing occurs, and air pollution dur-
ing this phase is inevitable.

Table 1: High Heat Resistant Coating Applications

Cure Mechanisms Resin Species Number Coats Solids Filler Types

1 Heat 1 Fluoroploymers 1 Single 1 Low 1 Ceramic
2 Air Dry 2 Epoxies 2 Double 2 Medium 2 Aluminum
3 2k Ambient 3 Alkyds 3 Triple 3 High 3 TiO2
4 2k Heat assist 4 Acrylics 4 Other Inorg.
5 Phenolics
6 Silicone
7 Polyesters
8 Hybrids of above

24 APRIL 2009 WWW.COATINGS WORLD.COM

 A more sophisticated variation is
to use, for example, titanium esters Chart 1
mixed with aluminum flake. The
esters can be formulated into the
binder system of stoving paints
which will resist temperatures of up
to 400C. Above that temperature,
burn-off occurs, depositing a titani-
um-aluminum complex coating
which has good hardness and adhe-
sion, and can resist temperatures of
up to 800C.

The 35 segments that

make up the global
Source: Chemark Consulting
market for heat resist-
ant coatings is valued
at US$543.9MM and is
expanding at an aver-
Chart 2
age growth rate of
5.78% annually.

Powder coatings which will resist

temperatures of 300-500C, depend-
ing on formulation, have been on the
market for several years and are
used for applications such as barbe-
cues, stoves and exhaust systems. An
important consideration here is that
powder coatings are often applied at
relatively high film builds, but for
these applications the film must be
kept thin to minimize thermal Source: Chemark Consulting
stresses on heating.

IMPORTANCE OF PIGMENTATION
As has been noted in the example
above, the pigment may react with
the binder at high temperatures,
making its choice critical. In general,
however, there are two main issues:
The pigment must itself be capable of
resisting the service temperature; and
Flake-form pigments may help to pro-
tect the resin system against oxidation.
Thus, leafing aluminum flake is
widely used, though at temperatures
above 500C, ceramic frits are
preferable. Black iron oxide and
some other metal oxides are used in
some applications, but care has to be
taken not to choose materials that
will lose water of crystallization
and/or change their crystal form at
service temperatures, as this results
in a change of color and possible
damage to film integrity.
MARKET SIZE & GROWTH RATES
There are 35 market segments repre-
senting 1,152 possible combinations
serving this fast growing market (see
Table 1).
The 35 segments that make up the
global market for heat resistant coat-
ings is valued at US$543.9MM and is
expanding at an average growth rate
of 5.78% annually.
Broken down in regional markets,
NAFTA accounts for $246.6MM of the
global market; all of Europe represents
$199.9MM; China makes up $46.33MM;
and South America accounts for the
remaining $36.85MM (see Chart 1).
Although powder coatings have
established a 14% foothold share in
the heat resistant coatings market
segment, it is not growing as fast as
the liquid portion due to the greater
technical flexibility with liquid sys-
tems versus powder (see Chart 2).
Chemark will address this market
further in our second of a two-part
series next month. CW
See Chemarks ad this month on page 19.

WWW.COATINGS WORLD.COM APRIL 2009 25